When Malcolm Turnbull was Prime Minister of Australia he had an unfortunate habit which would go something like this: a policy would be announced, it would be passed by the House of Representatives, be sent to the Senate; the gridlock in the Senate from 2013 would make it clear fairly quickly he didn’t have the votes and the policy would be withdrawn. Turnbull would then throw a tantrum bemoaning the gridlock and the plethora of minor parties and one-issue nutters in the Senate. I lost count as to how many times he did this between his re-election in 2016 and departure just over two years later; at least sixteen times, sixteen different policies were abandoned.
What Malcolm Turnbull should have done (as I was saying this at the time) was the complete opposite. He should have let the Senate vote down all these matters. Not only that but he should have united his party behind him by simply giving everyone whatever they wanted. The conservative right wing was strongly opposed to and personally disliked Turnbull (it was mutual). Instead of his usual behaviour of “Oh I am so superior to the rednecks” he should have said to people like George Christensen, “What is it that you want?” and happily adopted every single brainwave and thought bubble of every MP. These matters would have passed the House of Representatives and quickly died in the Senate.
“Oh gosh darn it; the Senate rooted you. Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes” could have been Turnbull’s response to every Liberal party branch chairman and right-wing MP when such matters as bringing back hanging and flogging, or abolishing income taxes, or buying nukes and pointing them at China, or banning immigrants who aren’t white, were rejected by the Senate without much debate.
My point is this: at least Turnbull would have had an agenda. He could have had a united party that stood for “something for everyone” on the right of Australian politics. Whenever he faced criticism from conservative people his response could have been “Oh but I supported that” and become almost beyond criticism. He would also still be the Prime Minister of Australia.
Fast forward to today and the new NZ Prime Minister’s intention to ditch a few fringe policies which are “not a priority right now”. There are many people in the Labour caucus and cabinet who spent years advocating lunatic socialist twaddle, especially the Maori stuff, and have in the last five years taken the view, “What’s the point of being in government if we don’t do what we believe in when we have the chance?” In a funny sort of way, I rather respect this.
Far better to do something you’ve believed in since you were seven years old, lose an election, and even see it repealed fairly quickly than not to have done it at all. When I am eighty I’d far rather smugly think “I did _______ when I was a cabinet minister” than have to make excuses for myself like, say, Michael Bassett or Bob Tizard who ended up doing nothing.
Accordingly, if I were Willie or Mahuta or any other socialist lunatic, I would take some deep breaths, accept that the government has been “un-electable” since July and simply refuse to countenance any sort of U-turn. At least they could then say that they believed in something and didn’t let opportunities pass them by.
